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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Irresponsible Dissent

There are moments when politics must yield to the national interest. The India AI Impact Summit was one such occasion. Instead, it was disfigured by a juvenile spectacle that saw members of the Indian Youth Congress barging into an exhibition hall at Bharat Mandapam, shedding their shirts, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


The summit was an international forum attended by delegates from 110 countries, showcasing India’s technological ambitions at a time when artificial intelligence is fast becoming the new measure of national power. It featured 326 exhibitors from 37 countries, CEOs from 41 global technology firms, investment commitments reportedly touching $250bn, and exhibitions of 644 AI technologies. Three indigenous large language models were unveiled, signalling that India now aspires not merely to consume AI but to shape it.


Against this backdrop, the Youth Congress’s juvenile antics was a reckless act of self-inflicted damage to the country’s interests. It also helps further discredit the Congress party led by Rahul Gandhi.


More than a hundred senior academics have said as much in a strongly worded collective statement. They called the protest “regrettable” and “ill-conceived,” warning that it risked undermining India’s carefully built credibility in advanced technologies.  Turning an international technology summit into a stage for domestic theatrics betrays a failure to grasp both context and consequence.


Protest is the lifeblood of a democracy. But not all venues are interchangeable. There are a hundred ways to protest elsewhere without converting a global platform into a spectacle of indiscipline. Elected representatives, and those who aspire to be, have a constitutional obligation not to cheapen moments that project the country to the world.


More troubling than the stunt itself has been the silence that followed. Rahul Gandhi has found his voice on everything from foreign wars to street-corner skirmishes. On this occasion, he has said nothing. Nor has the party issued anything resembling a serious apology or explanation.


That silence feeds a deeper malaise. For years, a section of India’s political and intellectual left has cultivated a habit of selective outrage by making it a point to disparage every global engagement under Modi and dub every national achievement as propaganda. When such ceaseless criticism begins to echo the narratives pushed by adversarial states such as China or Pakistan, it ceases to be merely oppositional and becomes strategically careless.


The scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and university researchers who built the AI ecosystem on display at the summit do not belong to any party. Their work represents a collective national investment. If the Youth Congress chose this significant moment to vandalise, then it has only managed to discredit its own party in the eyes of the people.


If the Congress aspires to govern again, it must decide whether it wants to be seen as a serious alternative power, or merely a running commentary on Modi. Nations rise on competence and confidence. Oppositions, too, are judged by the same standard.

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